Turneffe Elbows/Caye Caulker in Belize (quick question)

[yakivet]

My dive group and I staying on Ambergris Caye in early April and we're diving with Amigo's Divers. We are trying to figure out if a trip out to the Turneffe Elbows are worth it. Also - how long of a boat ride is it to the Turneffe North Elbow from San Pedro and is the trek worth making for the 3 tank dive?

Also - does anyone have any thoughts on diving Caye Caulker? How long of a boat trip is that as well?

Namaste-

You've kinda gotten the run around and a lot of interjection about the Blue Hole, but bottom line-- A trip to the Elbow at Turneffe is well worth the trip. ,The 3 dives are fantastic, as are the 2 dives on Lighthouse following the BH dive. Go to Turneffe, dive the elbow and enjoy. I think its a little cheaper than the BH trip and with Amigo's, you get the ride on their Pro48, very comfortable for the 2.5 hour trip. They will also provide a good lunch--and rum punch for the return trip if you care to partake. Ask for Marciano--a great DM. I'll include a few pics of Turneffe diving. Ken :42:

 

[peterbj7]

What Ken says is true, but I think I owe another operator a word. AquaDives has managed to earn itself a poor reputation for a few things that have gone wrong. But please remember that most dive shops on AC draw their DMs and boat captains from the same pool of people, and AD has its fair share of excellent ones. Protech doesn't have its own boat to go to the atolls so a guest of ours who wanted to do the BH went with them today, and I accompanied him. Everything about the trip went well, boat safety was excellent, dive guiding was ample in ratio and also excellent, lunch was pretty well what any operator would give (I'm not really one for chicken, rice & beans but hey, this is Belize), and the spirit on the boat was very upbeat. The boat itself was exactly what was required for the day and the number of guests, and performed faultlessly. My only criticism was that I felt 1 hour for lunch and a tour of the booby bird sanctuary on Half Moon Caye was a bit stingy - I would have preferred at least 1/2 hour longer. But that's it. People who know me know that I rarely openly criticise or praise, but AD has had far more than its fair share of bad publicity lately. Today they came up trumps - credit where it's due.

But still dive Protech!!

 

[dashark]

I second the recomendation for turneffe.
The diving off the Turneffe elbow is amazing. one of the healthier reefs you will see, especially in Belize. By far the best diving down there
The boat ride is about 90min each way from San Pedro and very beautiful. You get a good look at some of the mangroves along the way.
enjoy...

 

[vladimir]

I have dived The Elbow 10 times on 3 separate trips to Belize; 2 on the Aggressor and one at Turneffe Island Lodge. I have seen hammerheads, have had an extended close encounter with a school of dolphins, and have seen lots of game fish--spanish mackerel, permit, etc.--that you don't ordinarily see on reef dives in the Caribbean. The last two dives I did there were the worst two dives of my trip. If the current is running, it can be a great dive; if not, pretty mediocre.

 

[dashark]

How did you like the turneffe island lodge?

 

[dashark]

I have dived The Elbow 10 times on 3 separate trips to Belize; 2 on the Aggressor and one at Turneffe Island Lodge. I have seen hammerheads, have had an extended close encounter with a school of dolphins, and have seen lots of game fish--spanish mackerel, permit, etc.--that you don't ordinarily see on reef dives in the Caribbean. The last two dives I did there were the worst two dives of my trip. If the current is running, it can be a great dive; if not, pretty mediocre.

how did you like turneffe island lodge?

 

[vladimir]

I like it a lot. I went with my girlfriend 2 or 3 years ago and we both had a great time. As she put it, "kind of romantic, even with you." I prefer the Aggressor when I travel alone, for its efficiency if nothing else, but would happily return to Turneffe Island Lodge.

 

[Gr8ful Diver]

One things to keep in mind that I don't think anyone has covered. The Elbow can be a fairly deep dive (to see the big stuff which is why people dive it). Also, it is usually a drift dive because of the currents that run through the site. Lastly, depending on which way the wind is coming from, it isn't a site you can dive every day. If the wind is coming from the wrong direction, it is VERY rough. I wouldn't recommend it for a novice diver. If the conditions are right, the Elbow is magnificent - lots of big grouper, snapper, sharks, schooling fish like horse eyed jack, etc. If the conditions are good, there are plenty of other awesome sites at Turneffe and hopefully your dive operator is smart enough to recoginze the conditions and dive another site.

Stay wet!

 

[diverdowndh]

I just stayed on Caye Caulker - there really isn't much to dive there, all of the operations go elsewhere... we did Turneffe north, Spanish Bay, Hol Chan, and Longs Caye... the shortest boat ride was Hol Chan, which is right off Ambergris Caye. The others varied from 1/2 an hour (Longs Caye), an hour+ (Spanish Bay), to over an hour (Turneffe, but we had REALLY rough seas, the roughest seas I've personally ever been in!).